Obstacles

There once was a king who had a boulder placed in the middle of a road. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king explaining that the gold was for the person who moved the boulder out of the way.

The peasant learned what many others never understand. Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one’s condition. Some of those who walked passed past the boulder didn’t think it was their responsibility to move it. Some were too passive to bother about it, or they didn’t even take any notice of it. Some chose to blame the king for not moving the obstacle away.

And sometimes it’s easier for us to ignore the obstacles we face in our relationship with God. Maybe they’re too painful to face, or we’ve become too passive, and we don’t care anymore. The obstacles could be sin issues, unforgiveness, bitterness, doubt, fear, hopelessness, despair, something in our past, or uncertainty about the future. A lot of things could affect the depth of our trust in our relationship with Father God.

We can choose to blame God because of situations we face in life, or we can trust that those obstacles have been placed in our paths so we can endure, get through them, and discover the treasures lying beneath the obstacles. On the other hand we can walk round the obstacles, ignore them, and be too passive.

Is your relationship with God growing? Are there things you need to deal with so you can discover the richness of His glory in your relationship with Him? Paul put it this way in his letter: ‘What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ’ (Philippians 3:8).

Is the suffering, or strain, of dealing with whatever obstacle’s in your life greater than the depth of the relationship you desire with the Father? Are you willing to move the obstacles in your life in order to grow in Him? I can imagine the peasant’s joy when he found the gold coins under the boulder. He probably forgot what he went through in trying to move the boulder out of the way. How much more our joy will be when our relationship with God is in the right place!

Prayer: Father God, thank You for working all things for the good for those who love You. I pray You’ll give me the grace, strength and perseverance to move every obstacle that stands in the way of my relationship with You. I pray that I’ll be able to discover the joy that comes in being in a deep and intimate relationship with You. Amen.